On Friday, a source told NFL.com's Jeff Darlington that Davis "knows exactly" why he didn't make the trip, though the team wouldn't offer up a reason.

By Sunday, the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero elaborated: "The reason most responsible and most alarming about Davis missing Sunday's game against the Chiefs is that the Dolphins believe Davis was drunk the night before the Saturday practice to which he was (had the altercation with Marshall). And when he showed up at the Miami facility, a source said Davis had the smell of alcohol and was suffering from an apparent hangover."

Hey, it happens. We'd be hypocrites if we got all sanctimonious about Davis' behavior. When we were in our early 20s, we showed up to work hungover more times than we care to remember. Of course, it's much easier to nurse a hangover while pushing some papers around a desk than running full speed into a bunch of fat guys in hot, humid conditions, but you take our point: men and women just out of college are inherently impetuous. Give them a lot of money and surround them with beautiful people and it gets worse.

Matt Moore threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns, Reggie Bush had 92 yards rushing and another score and Miami walloped Kansas City 31-3 for its first win of the season. Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots recap all the action from Kansas City.

We're not condoning what Davis did, just being honest.

Apparently, everyone's learned a valuable lesson from the impromptu Afterschool Special; Tony Sparano said Monday that Davis will play against the Redskins in Week 10. But if the Dolphins lose to Washington (an outfit quickly making a case for worst team in the NFC), we'd recommend benching Davis for the rest of the season. Because at this point, superstitions are the only thing that might save Sparano's job.

Marshall apparently threw a football directly into Davis’ face. Then, Davis, who supposedly wanted to rip off Marshall’s head, had to be restrained by teammates.

According to the Miami Herald, the team believes Davis was drunk the night before the altercation and that he smelled like alcohol when he arrived hung-over at the team facility.

Coach Tony Sparano, after the team’s first win of the season, declined to elaborate on the reason why Davis wasn’t in uniform.

"I’m not going to get into any of that," coach Tony Sparano said. "You guys know that. Vontae is obviously not here. What goes on in those locker room doors will stay between me and Vontae.”

But when reporters approached Marshall, who caught eight passes for 106 yards and a score, he didn’t mind talking a bit more.

“Yeah, one of the reasons why we’re standing here with a W is because the guys in our locker room, we hold each other accountable," Marshall said. "Vontae is a special player. He’s one of the best players on our team. We look forward to getting Vontae back hopefully next week. We hold each other accountable and that’s why we’re a special group. Record doesn’t show it but hopefully next week we can put another win back to back."

According to NFL.com, players were split on whether Marshall handled his altercation with Davis -- which supposedly included berating that Davis felt crossed the line -- in a way that was effective.

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According to NFL.com's Jeff Darlington, a confrontation this week between cornerback Vontae Davis and wide receiver Brandon Marshall led to Davis wanting to rip Marshall's head off.

A source told Darlington that Davis had to be restrained after Marshall started "talking (trash) and crossed the line." The altercation wasn't physical, but the incident may be related to the Dolphins' decision to leave Davis in Miami while they traveled to Kansas City to face the Chiefs Sunday.

More via Darlington:

Davis told a few people close to him that he believed he wasn't making the trip to Kansas City as a result of the altercation, but a separate team source adamantly denied the claim, adding that Davis "knows exactly" why he didn't make the trip…

The team did not elaborate on the reason for leaving Davis in Miami, only to call it "non-injury" related. Davis has been rehabilitating his hamstring after missing last week's game, but the hamstring is not responding or healing as expected.

Davis did practice in a limited role this week, and he wants to keep playing this season, despite a few people close to him advising against getting on the field too soon.

It's the latest weirdness from an organization that can't escape it. The Dolphins are 0-7, head coach Tony Sparano could be fired any day now, and the team appears more concerned in refuting silly rumors than trying to win football games.

The Kansas City Chiefs hope to continue their hot streak as they prepare to host the Miami Dolphins, who are still searching for their first win. Jason Horowitz and NFL.com's Pat Kirwan break down this game. Watch the game at 1 PM ET on CBS.

The 0-7 Miami Dolphins should have more important things on the to-do list than issuing statements refuting comments made by a former NFL player on a local radio station. And yet on Friday, the team did just that.

Jim Miller, an NFL quarterback for six seasons who now works as an analyst for CSN Chicago covering the Bears, appeared on 640-AM's The Big O Show with Orlando Alzugaray last week.

"Yes, it's frustrating because I live here in Motown and we got a turnaround with the Detroit Lions and the fans here have been devastated for a long time in terms of not winning," Miller told Alzugaray. "Now there's a lot of excitement yet the fans never went away even through the Matt Millen years and all the things that have gone on. And now they're winning the fans back over and I think that certainly can happen for the Miami Dolphins.

"I think (Miami) has a lot of talent," he continued. "I like that defense. I like the corners, Sean Smith and Vontae Davis, but the defense is on the field consistently.

"And I don't know what's been talked about down there, O[rlando], I mean, I'm upset with Chad Henne. I think he flat out packed it in for the Miami Dolphins. I've a had separated left shoulder -- you can play with that injury. All you're trading when you get surgery is a bump for a scar. He realized he wasn't going to get a new contract down there so I think he packed it in. And those aren't the type of players, in my opinion, the Miami Dolphins need in the future. They need guys that are going to give it up for their football team."

To recap: a guy with no ties to the Dolphins and presumably no sources in or close to the organization offers up his thoughts on Chad Henne to a South Florida radio host. Doesn't this happen every day, in every city, on every sports talk station around the country?

Miller said nothing about "I'm hearing," or "my sources tell me," or "someone close to the situation says…" Miller says "I think [Henne] flat out packed it in." The use of the verb "think" tells us that that's what Miller … thought.

No matter. the Dolphins were none too happy with Miller and his opinions. On Friday, they issued the following statement (via the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero):

"The report that Chad Henne should have played with his injury is totally false and the speculation of the nature of that injury is not correct. The medical staff made it clear to Chad that he could not play with his injury and that his only option was surgery."

How utterly embarrassing (yet nowhere near the humiliation of losing seven straight times to start the season or having the wrong defense on the field against Tim Tebow on the game's decisive play).

Also worth mentioning: when someone offers up a thought, it's not to be confused with a report. Figured that went without saying. Clearly, we were wrong. And in case it comes up again: Tebow likes to run the quarterback draw on short-yardage situations, especially out of the shotgun. You're welcome in advance.

Salguero notes that while Miller is wrong (Henne sought a second opinion before having surgery), the Dolphins have every intention of letting Henne walk after the season.

Either way: who cares what Miller, a Bears analyst, thinks about the Dolphins? (Other than the organization, which apparently hangs on Miller's every word.)

The Kansas City Chiefs hope to continue their hot streak as they prepare to host the Miami Dolphins, who are still searching for their first win. Jason Horowitz and NFL.com's Pat Kirwan break down this game. Watch the game at 1 PM ET on CBS.

While the Dolphins plane headed to New York had to circle for an hour before it gained clearance to land in the Northeastern snow storm, running back Daniel Thomas and cornerback Vontae Davis remained home in south Florida.

Davis and his bad hamstring were originally listed as doubtful on the injury report, but Thomas was questionable and was thought to have a decent chance of playing.

That means Reggie Bush most likely will start in Thomas’ place, and, as Rapid Reporter Chris Perkins writes, there’s a good chance Steve Slaton will get his first playing time with Miami.

The good news for Bush (other than the probability that he’ll see a plethora of touches without Thomas around)? He’ll get an opportunity to prove he doesn’t stink as bad he and cornerback Yeremiah Bell think he does.

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With Dolphins running back Daniel Thomas out with a bad hamstring for today’s game in San Diego, it seems like some pretty good foresight from Miami to have signed the recently-released Texans running back Steve Slaton. Though Slaton was done in Houston, stuck behind Arian Foster, Ben Tate and Derrick Ward, he still has promise.

In his 2008 rookie season, he rushed for 1,282 yards and nine touchdowns, and though he’s been limited the past few seasons because of injuries (and because of Foster’s production in Houston), the Dolphins obviously saw something they liked in Thomas (perhaps to the detriment of current Dolphins back Reggie Bush?).

What they liked, well, coach Tony Sparano isn’t sure yet. He’s only seen him practice twice, after all.

“I see a young player that has good upside and I think that’s a good quality to have here at that position," Sparano said, via the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

After a slow start to the season -- he missed the season opener because of the same hamstring injury -- Thomas has rushed for 202 yards in the past two games, and he’s shown why Miami thought highly enough of him to take him in the second round of the 2011 draft. Sparano has said Bush is still his No. 1 guy, but Slaton, if he’s feeling healthy, could make a mark as well.

"Since my rookie year," Slaton said. "I feel about the same."

By that, he means he feels good. But with the absence of Thomas and cornerback Vontae Davis, who will miss his second-straight game with a hamstring injury, the Dolphins will have a tough time traveling to San Diego to face the Chargers. Even with a newly-charged Slaton in the lineup.

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Earlier this week, Dolphins cornerback Vontae Davis had something interesting to say about his status in the league. After leading the team with 12 passes defended last year, Davis was ready to declare that he and Sean Smith are the top cornerback unit in the NFL.

Wait, wait, wait. You can’t possibly mean that Davis and Smith are better than the Jets combo of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, right? After all, as the paper points out, Revis and Cromartie “have a combined 32 interceptions and four Pro Bowl berths to Davis' and Smith's five and none respectively.” Surely, Davis didn’t mean he and Smith are more productive than Revis and Cromartie. But no, Davis wouldn’t back down from his theory.

"You name them all and I'm putting it out there," he said.

When told about that hypothesis, Revis pointed to proof that, in his mind, made clear that Davis was incorrect.

"He's got to play a couple more years before he's saying all that," Revis said, via the New York Post. "They're a good tandem but they have a lot of work to do. … It really don't matter because the film don't lie. The film don't lie. You can say what you want to say. You can say the sky is red, but it ain't red. That's just what it is. We know how we play and we know what we do on that field not just as a corner tandem but as a secondary. We play great football."

Fortunately, the early results are in and Jones looks like a pretty solid draft pick for Atlanta. Granted, Friday night's loss against Miami was only one game of the preseason, but he drew some nice compliments from usually reserved Falcons coach Mike Smith.

"I think Julio got indoctrinated into what the NFL is about and in terms of the plays he made, I think they were outstanding," Smith said, per Jay Adams of the team's official website. "I think all three touches were for first downs. He showed some skills that we saw when he was playing at the University of Alabama, and we'll watch the tape I think we'll find some things that we've got to correct.

"We all made mistakes, starting with me in terms of the game management and all of that. I really thought that Julio did some good things."

He did indeed. Jones looked extremely explosive in the early going, catching two balls for 43 yards and taking a reverse around the right side for 12 yards.

Jones was targeted four times in total during the first three series that spanned about 12 minutes of the first quarter -- the Falcons first two offensive plays of the preseason targeted Jones but Matt Ryan missed the first throw and Vontae Davis was draped on Jones during the second one.

Yeah, it's safe to say that they wanted to not just establish Jones but their "new" identity as an explosive offensive team early on. It didn't work -- at first.

During the next two series, the Falcons marched down the field and punched it in the end zone, once with a Michael Turner score and then again when Harry Douglas made a fantastic catch on an even better throw from Ryan.

Those two possessions featured Jones being integrated much more seamlessly, particularly when Jones was able to take short passes from Ryan for big gains.

It's the explosive playmaking that Atlanta wanted to add this season and if Jones first few series are any indication of his ability, it certainly will be outstanding.

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